New York — J.K. Rowling's next book is for adults, but she will be on hand this fall to help promote a new club for kids, the Harry Potter Reading Club. The announcement arrived on a day of special significance to Rowling and her boy wizard — their birthdays.

Scholastic Inc. stated on Tuesday that the author will participate in a live webcast at noon, Oct. 11 from her hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland, taking live questions from her young fans for the first time since 2007, when the last Potter book came out. The discussion will take place on www.scholastic.com/hpreadingclub, the website for an online Potter club launched Tuesday by Scholastic.

Designed for schools and libraries and parents, the new club will include discussion guides, a glossary, interactive features and information on community events. Rowling will contribute original commentary. She has a novel for adults out in September, "The Casual Vacancy."

The author may be venturing into the grown-up book world, but she'll be forever linked to Harry Potter on July 31. The author celebrates her 47th birthday today, a date she shares with her fictional character.

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Video: J.K. Rowling to write adult novel

Closed captioning of: J.K. Rowling to write adult novel

>>>big news in the literary world, jmt k. recalling, author of the "
harry potter
" sears is turning in a different way, publishing for grown-ups.

>> reporter: those magical "
harry potter
" books flew off shelves around the world, nearly a million copes from america to afghanistan. the movie, the phenomenon, made
single momj.k. rowling
who was once on welfare, the first billionaire author.

>>i read them all, yeah, i loved them.

>> reporter: well, now, sorry kids and wizard wannabes. this next one is not for you. in september j.k. will publish her debut novel for adults called "the casual vacancy." the novel is set in a fictional little englishtown where everything looks real pretty, but all is not as it seems. a town at war, her publisher describes, individuals at war, technologicalliers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbandens, called slightly comic and quite surprising. no, no wizards or dragons or slobber worms. just
regular people
. so what is it about little englishtowns -- that they're all at war. those parrish towns, little busy buzz. they're completely at war.

>> reporter: are there things lurking behind corners and seething between cracks?

>>yeah, there would be.

>> reporter: hmm.

>>j.k. rowels is the biggest publishing property. publishing her first adult novel is big, big news.

>> reporter: critics are wondering if people will embrace j.k. without harry. many call her, one word, "great." for "today,"
michelle kosinski
, nbc news, london.

>>that's a lot of pressure.

>>i was going to say. that's tough. when you have this series that you had that was so phenomenal and so beloved. is it ever going to rise to that same level?